Let's Explore America. Raj Boone's Gadasalli
Hungary.
Fareed Zakaria.
Journalist. India.
Dr Zach Zachariah.
Florida Cardiologist. Member of President Bush’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans. India.
Zubin Mehta.
Symphony Conductor. India.
The 20 –meter-high busts of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln were carved into solid granite at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
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States of the Union
The 48 contiguous states called the continental USA together with Alaska and Hawaii constitute the 50 States. In addition, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands are governed by the US.
The States, 2 letter codes and names of capitals:
Two letter state codes are used to identify cities. Instead of writing Chicago, Illinois it is enough to write Chicago, IL.
The Big Apple
New York City is often referred to as the Big Apple. In the early years of the nineteenth century refugees from war torn Europe began arriving in New York in large numbers. Landing without money or friends many women were forced to survive by their wits and charms. That is when, a beautiful, charming and educated French lady by the name of Evelyn set up a bordello for the well heeled, calling her vivacious temptresses as “my irresistible apples” - pretty, round and firm! So, for a long time the term came with sexual connotations. The phrase became pretty well sanitized in the 1930s, after the Apple Marketing Board in upstate New York, which got alarmed by declining apple sales, launched a vigorous “Product positioning campaign” to boost apple sales. The term ‘The Big Apple’ or ‘The Apple’ soon passed into popular use as a sobriquet for New York City. So NYC is The Big Apple – Pretty and desirable. Destination, that is!
A Church in the small Midwestern city of Burlington Iowa.
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Demographics
Population
Estimated 2009 population is 3o5 million, plus a few million undocumented workers. California, New York and Texas are the most populous states and a majority of Indians and Asians live there. Silicon Valley, the IT capital of the world is in Northern California.
Population Distribution
Today three out of four Americans live in cities and towns. Over 60 million live in rural areas.
The States of New York, California, Texas and Illinois are the most populous. New York city is the largest, followed by Los Angeles and Chicago in that order.
A large number of Asians live in the states of California,
Florida, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas. They are concentrated in larger cities. However a small number can be found in cities all across the country.
TABLE 1
Source U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts. Data derived from Population Estimates, 2010.
People Quick Facts. USA
Business Quick Facts USA. 2009.
10 Largest Cities by Population. 2010
Uncle Sam
The origin of the phrase Uncle Sam symbolizing the Federal Government is unknown. A popular theory has it that during the war of 1812, a Troy, NY businessman by name Sam Wilson was a supplier of beef to the Government. The barrels were labeled U.S. and one of his workers used to say that the barrels came from Uncle Sam Wilson. And the sobriquet stuck. In 1961 Congress recognized that Sam Wilson was the person behind this symbolism. Uncle Sam is portrayed as a man dressed in the colors of the American flag- red, white and blue. And, sporting a white goatee. The picture shown here was designed during World War I and extensively used during WWII in a US Army recruitment poster.
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Religions
The Constitution (first amendment) of the United States says “ Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…..”.
Religion plays an important role in American society. Americans in every state have the same freedom to worship. Religious activity is through private funding and the government gives no direct subsidy to any faith.
Over 85 percent of the population is Christian and a majority of them are Protestants. However every religion of the world has its adherents in America.
Americans are more likely to believe in God and rebirth. According to a recent Gallup survey
98% of Americans surveyed say they believed in God compared to 84 in Switzerland, 73 in France, and 60 in Sweden.
Roughly 60% of Americans are members of some religious group like a Church or a synagogue and about 40% attend religious service regularly compared to 20% in Britain. American religious bodies are large, powerful and highly influential in social and political life.
Population breakdown by major religions. 2007. In millions.
Protestants. 113.
Catholics. 57.
Mormon. 3.1.
Jewish. 2.7
Buddhists. 1.2.
Muslims. 5.7.
Hindus.